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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563326">Homeward Bound</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfFangirls/pseuds/QueenOfFangirls'>QueenOfFangirls</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCIS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempted Murder, Car Accidents, F/M, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Jimmy Palmer deserves the world, Origin Story, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Small Towns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:01:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563326</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfFangirls/pseuds/QueenOfFangirls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jimmy Palmer tries to remain private in his personal life. Some stories are better to keep quiet about. Yet, his life is about to come full throttle and hit his team in the face.</p><p>And what does a cow have to do with any of it?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jimmy Palmer/Breena Slater, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Homeward Bound</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morning Glory was his favorite cow, and will always be. Years spent on the road showing and winning with the Jersey. The son of a dairy farmer was allowed to pick his favorites. Hell, he grew up with the cow and found the cow to be a better friend than most other kids he knew.</p><p>He’s not a kid anymore.</p><p>Growing up in the mountains of Virginia taught Jimmy important lessons. Caring for those in need, how to deal with situations you don’t want to be in, it’s only illegal if you get caught, etc. Jimmy also thought that the most important lesson he’s learned is how to get out. Having a 4.0 GPA all the way through high school had him dead set on his school, even got himself a scholarship for being an “unprivileged youth of the Appalachian Mountains area.” Whatever that meant. Currently, his cow’s head was in his lap, and Jimmy was surrounded by his textbooks. Jimmy was leaving in a week for school in Tennessee. Everybody in town was proud of him for “getting out.” He didn’t want to leave for the most part. Granted, some people were horribly rude to some folks, but the culture was there. People could leave their doors unlocked at night, and invite themselves onto the porch to sit a spell, have some tea and catch up. People supported each other. He remembered when Carole Dant got in the car crash end of sophomore year, and the town had an auction to support the family. Mama made ten pies that weekend and made $500 for the Dants.</p><p>Jimmy tried to ignore the figure in the grass fields. “Figured I would find you here, Palmer.” Micheal Haworth jumped over the gate separating the two properties. Micheal had been his best friend since preschool, and it helped that both their dads were on the senior fair board together. The two were thicker than thieves and had always thought that they were the ones to take over the family farms. Until Micheal turned his back on Jimmy back in the spring.</p><p>“Mike,” Jimmy said, not looking up from his forensics textbook, his hand on his cow’s head. “What do you want?” Jimmy could care less about Micheal. Micheal is a lying, cheating, backstabbing bastard that Jimmy would be glad to see burn in hell. “Figured you would wanna hear that I did it. I signed up,” Micheal smiled a little and scratched his nose. “I ship out for basic next week.” Micheal had always talked about joining the marines. He could do it alright, Micheal towered over Jimmy and was one of the tallest and strongest boys in the class. He wouldn’t fit in the mines that well. In the small town of Blairs, Virginia, there are four big jobs to have. You can deal with drugs, farm, join the military, or join the dying mines before it kills you. Jimmy didn’t say anything. He bit his already swollen lip from the fight two nights prior, the same night he and Janie Buckler broke up.</p><p>Morning Glory did the talking. She lifted her head and started to bellow and snort. Smart cow for sensing the situation. “Aw, hush cow.” Micheal reached down to swat at the cow. Jimmy grabbed him by the wrist and held on for dear life. Jimmy’s nails dug down into Micheal’s skin, and his remaining fist curled into a ball. He stood up, trying to make himself bigger than he actually was. “Go to hell, Haworth,” Jimmy could sense his own voice trembling, tears welling like fire in his own eyes. “I never want to see you again.” Micheal pulled back his arm, clearly pissed off.</p><p>“This isn’t over, Palmer.” Micheal retreated, jumping the fence.</p><hr/><p>-Jimmy tries not to dwell in the past. People change and go on with their lives. The fight he had almost twenty years ago as well in the past, but Jimmy still finds it sore. But besides, he had many more positive features in his life. He is happy with his job, and he is happy in his little townhouse in D.C. with Breena and Victoria. He tries to avoid giving too much information to his coworkers. It’s not just that he is ashamed of who he is, but he doesn’t want the team who he has worked so hard on to respect him to see him as a country bumpkin.</p><p>This week’s case is nothing different. A dead man on a ship stationed in Norfolk. Simple. The team had already started to interview his crewmates. Tim stayed behind, still documenting evidence. The victim had put up a fight with someone, leaving prints of blood throughout his room. The victim was a gunnery sergeant and was found earlier in the morning on his stomach. “Do you care to help me get him on the gurney?” Palmer asked McGee, setting down his forensic kits outside of the door. McGee sat down the camera to help Jimmy flip the man onto the gurney. Palmer held onto the man’s feet, while McGee was on the upper-body end. “One, two, three.” Palmer and McGee lifted the man onto the stretcher and flipped him over face-up. Palmer, in a thousand years, would never have thought he would see his childhood best friend stabbed to death. He recognized that sandy blonde hair anywhere, and the stormy grey eyes wide open. Palmer felt hot and sick. Not like seasick, but like sick sick. His stomach dropped into the deepest pit.</p><p>“Jimmy, you ok?” McGee asked. The room started to spin a little bit, and Jimmy's knees buckled. The last thing that Jimmy remembers is McGee running towards him, his words all but lost to Palmer. </p><hr/><p>Jimmy woke up surrounded by the team. Gibbs was stoic, as per usual. Tim breathed a sigh of relief when Jimmy opened his eyes. Torres and Bishop stood behind them. Torres held Bishop close. “Welcome back, Dr. Palmer,” The ship’s medic greeted him. “You scared us for a few minutes.” The medic closed up his kit and helped Jimmy onto his feet. </p><p>Jimmy’s head was pounding, reeling from hitting his head against what he thinks was the wall. “You alright, Palmer?” Gibbs asked. It took a minute for Jimmy to find his words.</p><p>“Yeah,” He squeaked. His voice cracked a little. Jesus, what did his team think of him? “I think I am.” Jimmy tried to assure the team. Bishop’s eyes looked red, and McGee looked like he had seen a ghost. Torres looked like he was the only person holding Bishop up. Gibbs was just Gibbs. Gibbs was strong, never changing. Deep down, he cares. “Did you know the victim?” Gibbs asked. Jimmy guessed that was his way of caring in this situation. Jimmy tried to figure out how to put his relationship with Micheal. Best friends, once able to finish each other's sentences like he was a brother. They stuck up for each other. In school, Micheal taught Jimmy how to succeed in gym class, and Jimmy helped Micheal out in biology and calculus. “We,” Jimmy swallowed his fear. “We are-were friends. We haven’t talked in years.” Palmer didn’t say the whole truth. He didn’t tell them that the last thing he said to Micheal was to go to hell. Yet, Gibbs stayed silent. “Bishop, take Palmer home.”</p><hr/><p>Jimmy didn’t want to think about anything right now. He just wanted to breathe, get away from the situation. He emailed Vance to get the weekend and the following Monday off on the way home, and he got a reply a few minutes later. He was told to take his time with this situation, and his medical leave would go in immensity. Micheal was like a brother to Jimmy. It was hard to believe that Micheal was gone, let alone being dissected like a frog in his autopsy. Jimmy called his mama, telling her that he was coming up for the weekend with the family. Jimmy just needed to get away from everything. He just wanted to breathe, relax. Dad may still have the old blue tractor in the barn to work on. Mama picked up after the third ring and immediately knew what Jimmy was gonna tell her. She got excited, he could hear in her voice. Had it been really since Easter since Jimmy went home? Geez, he really needs to get a hold of his scheduling better. He felt guilty for not going over to see her more often. He gets himself so caught up in work. Hopefully, things will change. The hunt for an assistant was getting better in the last few months. Mama said that she would make his favorite and let his brothers know. The prospect of fried green tomatoes and grits made packing much more interesting.</p><p>Breena insisted on driving four hours to Jimmy’s hometown, she didn’t want to take a chance if something happened with Jimmy’s injury. Jimmy tried to assure his wife that he was fine, and tried to convince her to give him his keys. Jimmy liked to drive, and he could drive the roads at home with his eyes closed. The two struck a deal, each driving half of the trip, and Jimmy taking the easier back roads to Blairs. Victoria fell asleep before they left city limits. “She played hard today,” Breena said. “When I picked her up today, she said she learned to climb the big kid monkey bars.” Breena smiled. “How hard will the next one play?” She placed a protective hand on her stomach. They had just found out about three weeks ago that she was pregnant again, and was about two months into her pregnancy.</p><p>“We’ll just wait and see.” Jimmy smiled. Nothing made him happier than this.</p><hr/><p>They switched seats in Lynchburg, pulling into a gas station. They had a little over an hour left until Blairs. Breena fell asleep soon after they left Lynchburg. Jimmy didn’t mind driving home, it reminded him of his childhood. After Mom remarried and they moved out to the countryside, Jimmy began to enjoy the simple things in life. With a herd of step-brothers and sisters on his side, he began to enjoy his family again, no matter how messed-up the history behind them was. His step-father was probably a better man than most. He and Mama had been friends before Dad passed, and was there to comfort the family afterward. Harold Palmer helped to make Jimmy the man he is today. Hell, Harold asked Jimmy for his blessing to marry Mama.</p><p>Easily, an hour passed by and Jimmy found himself in the empty town square of Blairs at a red light. Nearing midnight, the only source of light besides the streetlights and the stop lights was the church up ahead. “Hey,” He gently nudged his wife, who was drooling slightly. “We’re almost to Mama’s.” Breena stirred, adjusting herself to stretch. “How long was I out for?” She asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “About an hour. We got about fifteen more minutes until we get to mama’s,” Jimmy said, readjusting his glasses.</p><p>Green lit the square, as Jimmy slowly made out of the intersection. He was smack-dab in the middle of the road when he was hit. Everything shaked, Breena and Victoria screamed in fear. Breena swore as the seatbelts tighten around her abdomen and chest. Jimmy felt like a dog toy, being thrown around in his car. He couldn’t have seen whatever it was coming. He rocked back hard- and hit his head on his steering wheel as his car crashed into a light pole. The sounds of metal scraping against metal sent shivers up his spines. His vision blurred as darkness overtook his view, looking at his wife, bloody and trapped.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Gibbs honestly didn’t hear Ducky enter his house. He was busy tightening a bolt on his boat when Ducky came almost running down the staircase. “Jet- Jethro!” Ducky was out of breath, running on pure steam. Granted, it was almost one in the morning. Ducky was disheveled, his clothes and hair a mess.</p><p>“Ducky, breathe. What’s going on?” Gibbs put down his socket wrench. “It’s Dr. Palmer, there was an accident, and he is halfway across the state fighting for his life. I have already done the liberty of packing you a bag, so that leaves the matter of calling the rest of the band and how much have you had to drink tonight ?” Ducky talked fast, rambling so much that it left him out of breath. Gibbs processed what the man had just said. “Slow down, Duck. What do you mean by accident? And I’ve only had a glass of bourbon at ten.” Gibbs tried to calm down Ducky, taking off his work apron.</p><p>“A vehicular accident, Jethro. Jimmy was in an car crash.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:</p><p>Short comments<br/>Long comments<br/>Questions<br/>Constructive criticism<br/>“&lt;3” as extra kudos<br/>Reader-reader interaction<br/>LLF Comment Builder</p><p>This author replies to comments. If you don't want that, simply put "whisper" in your comment and I will leave it be.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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